Need help deciding next trip. Honduras? Costa Rica? Australia? New Zealand? AHHH!

[sjukich]

Hey guys and gals, I need some help deciding my next trip or two. First of let me give you all some background so you can get a feel for what I enjoy. My wife and I are both in our late mid 20's, no kids and live in California. We love to do all things outdoors and love trying new things and going on adventures. I feel like I just filled out an online dating profile......Anyways we have traveled a bit over the last few years, making it to a few parts in Mexico, some Caribbean islands, Belize, Fiji, and each of the Hawaiian islands a few times. Through these travels we have found many things that we like and many things that we have not. Starting off with the diving, obviously that is one of the best parts of the trips and I feel it will be hard to beat what we saw in Fiji and the Rainbow reef and shark dive. We love all of the "off the beaten path" non tourist stuff that we found in Belize and Fiji. I did find that Mexico and the Caribbean islands we went to were just too touristy and everything was overpriced because ship loads of people show up to snorkel and zipline. I loved that I was able to explore the country in Fiji and Belize and still feel safe yet have a sense of adventure because of the culture. We're not huge fans of big cities while on trips either. Hawaii has been amazing each time we have been there but we want to try someplace new. Like I said before we love to dive, fish, snorkel and pretty much do anything in the warm ocean water, which is why I'm hesitant to travel to a place like New Zealand where there may not be as much time spent in the water. That being said, we also loved spending time in the jungle of Belize and seeing all of the wildlife and doing the hikes(most of which aloud us to be the only ones on the trail). So a good mix would be awesome. Lodging should be nice but doesn't have to be 5 star. Pretty much we want to do lots of stuff besides just sit on a beach and have a great adventure doing things we will be talking about for years to come! We have kind of looked into Honduras(Utila and Roatan), Costa Rica and Australia but are not stuck on just those destinations. Looks like we be able to travel about 8-10 days in April and then 14ish days in late July or early August. Any info or ideas would be great!

 

[Peter69_56]

If you are going to Australia and decide to do the barrier reef, then you should do the more expensive trip to Cod hole. The other trips suck and are (in my opinion) nothing more than cattle boat rides to poor reef areas. If you have never dived before or have little diving they are great. If you have done significant diving then the trip to something like Cod hole north of Cairns is (I have been told) worth while. I went on a Barrier reef trip 2 years ago and was looking forward to it. The company was Deep Divers Den. Although the boat and staff were great, the sites we were on sucked, and I hated the daily cattle rush with a boat full of snorkelers and divers all falling over each other. The Environmental department wont let them dive just anywhere so they are stuck taking people to allocated sites.

We were there 4 days and it was like "ho hum" I enjoy my diving, that's why I am here, but I am really bored with the sites and especially coming back to the same site daily and diving on it so we can pick up more cattle, and drop some off.

That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Darnold9999]

If you liked Belize then you will like Costa Rica. Similar, but different. We rent a car and stay in B&B's and move every few days. Lots of different things to do and see - somewhat similer that way to Belize, but more variety in climate zones and communities and a significantly larger country than Belize. Diving on the Pacific side is only so so as the vis tends to be marginal, have never made it to the Carribean side of the country to dive but I would not expect it to be great. Otherwise lots of ocean to explore. The diving in Belize is much better.

You might want to add Bali and Thailand to your list of destinations. Both have interesting and different cultures and both have places where the diving is very good. Both can be extremely "touristy" like Mexico, but with a little work you can get off the beaten path and find some adventure.


Australia is a huge country so you can find pretty much whatever you want. We spent 4 weeks and saw only a tiny portion of it. The diving I did was off Port Douglas on the cattle boats as well as a liveaboard from Cod Hole. The liveaboard was WAY better. The cattle boats were not awful, but there is much better diving on the Barrier Reef.

 

[drrich2]

I'm condensing some of your opening post.

My wife and I are both in our late mid 20's, no kids and live in California. We love to do all things outdoors and love trying new things and going on adventures.

Anyways we have traveled a bit over the last few years, making it to a few parts in Mexico, some Caribbean islands, Belize, Fiji, and each of the Hawaiian islands...

We love all of the "off the beaten path" non tourist stuff that we found in Belize and Fiji. I did find that Mexico and the Caribbean islands we went to were just too touristy and everything was overpriced because ship loads of people show up to snorkel and zipline. I loved that I was able to explore the country in Fiji and Belize and still feel safe yet have a sense of adventure because of the culture. We're not huge fans of big cities while on trips either.

...we also loved spending time in the jungle of Belize and seeing all of the wildlife and doing the hikes(most of which aloud us to be the only ones on the trail). So a good mix would be awesome. Lodging should be nice but doesn't have to be 5 star.

You indicated you guys like spending a lot of time doing things in the water, and you were leaning away from New Zealand, I assume due to cooler conditions?

Does the diversity you enjoy also preclude live-aboards? Are you a mainland-based charter boat op. couple, who like doing other things in the evenings?

When I want to know about Roatan, I look for postings by a member who goes by Doc. Here's a thread on the Bay Islands for Experienced Divers.

In a thread asking for Roatan Suggestions, ToddTheCat reported (I'm posting excerpts from some of this postings):

Roatan caters to marathon divers. There is no local culture to immerse yourself in so putting aside a few days to hike through rainforests, go to fish markets, and stuff like that is going to prove to be a huge mistake.

You see, I really like getting involved in local culture. I spend my vacation time, weeks at a time, on the other side of the Caribbean (Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Bequia, Union Island). I love being there because I can dive in the morning/afternoon and in the evening check out the island. I enjoy going to fish markets, little local rum shops, and buying chicken from a BBQ on the side of the road. I like having other things to see and do, enjoy the local music playing, etc. I might wake up and decide to go and swim in a natural waterfall or check out a local feature as opposed to dive that day. Roatan lacks that.

Roatan is extremely Americanized and I despise that, especially when I am on vacation to get AWAY from the U.S. It is the only place in the world where locals seem to refuse to speak their own language (I'm bilingual and enjoy using Spanish during my travels). I knew on the drive to Turquoise Bay after arriving that it was worse than I expected when I saw the Applebee's. I leave the U.S. to leave U.S. stuff behind.

ZeppelinDiver pointed out:

Regarding the language spoken, Roatan was an English colony for centuries and most of the old families that have lived on the island for generations all speak English, that IS their native language. In fact, if you meet someone that only speaks Spanish they are not likely a native Roatanian, they will have moved here from mainland Honduras. Whether or not you find local culture depends on where you go and your expectation of what the local culture is.

Doc mentioned:

After many years on SCUBABoard, it's refreshing to see some of the posts above that affirm that the search for "Island Culture" is a fool's errand on the Bay Islands- unless you're talking about the Jimmy Buffet drinking "vibe". There are no historic forts to pose next to the canons, no sugar mills, no... nothing. There are some contrived attractions from zip lines, ATV tours and the standard island Shark/Dolphin canned dive experience, but if there was anything you would figure it would be on every brochure- and it aint. The big money plugged-in a nice golf course that will further destroy the North Side reef structure, the aforementioned Applebees, another try at a crappy wannabe Casino, and yes... TWO Bojangles Chicken joints- so how can you beat that?

Now, personally, I'd love to go to Roatan, spend a week+ at CocoView (ah, the dream!) or Reefhouse Resort, but I take dive trips to dive. I haven't been to any of the places you're looking at so far, but knowledgeable posters have laid it out pretty well.

Let us know what you decide to do; I'm curious.

Richard.

 

[SinnerLloyd]

choose Honduras, thats the first time i heard of that country.

 

[lamarpaulski]

!4 days plus i would go to Bali and Komodo. Great mix of culture, beauty, dragons and awesome diving. people are nice and food is great. Very different. I liked Singapore too (layover).

 

[KathyV]

We've been to Roatan in Honduras twice and we had wonderful trips both times, but I must admit that I would hesitate to go back at this time due to the rather alarming traveler alerts coming from the US state department, see: Honduras

I know that you might be the victim of crime anywhere in the world - including your home - and I realize that the State Department would prefer that all US Citizens stayed at home just so they wouldn't have to worry about protecting us!

But still, there are lots of destination choices for divers and I'm not too keen on the idea of the country with the "highest murder rate in the world!" I'm just sayin'!

Hey guys and gals, I need some help deciding my next trip or two...Lodging should be nice but doesn't have to be 5 star. Pretty much we want to do lots of stuff besides just sit on a beach and have a great adventure doing things we will be talking about for years to come! We have kind of looked into Honduras(Utila and Roatan), Costa Rica and Australia but are not stuck on just those destinations. Looks like we be able to travel about 8-10 days in April and then 14ish days in late July or early August. Any info or ideas would be great!

choose Honduras, thats the first time i heard of that country.

...Now, personally, I'd love to go to Roatan, spend a week+ at CocoView (ah, the dream!) or Reefhouse Resort, but I take dive trips to dive. I haven't been to any of the places you're looking at so far, but knowledgeable posters have laid it out pretty well...

 

[drrich2]

This has come up before; bottom line, mainland Honduras and the Bay Islands are different kettles of fish, so to speak. A number of people wouldn't stay long on mainland Honduras, but are fine with travel to Roatan or Utila.

If your time in mainland Honduras is strictly spend catching a connecting flight at the airport, seems pretty low risk.

Richard.

 

[AaronRiot]

My girlfriend and I are headed to Drake Bay in Costa Rica in a few months. Sout-west corner. Seems pretty off the beaten path and there are both land and water activities. Gotta take an interior flight to get there ($200 round trip pp) or an 8hr bus from San Jose. We're staying at one of the smaller eco-lodges. Check it out.

---------- Post added October 20th, 2013 at 05:58 PM ----------

This has come up before; bottom line, mainland Honduras and the Bay Islands are different kettles of fish, so to speak. A number of people wouldn't stay long on mainland Honduras, but are fine with travel to Roatan or Utila.

If your time in mainland Honduras is strictly spend catching a connecting flight at the airport, seems pretty low risk.

Richard.

My girl backpacked through Honduras for a month or two, way off the beaten path and alone. She loved it there.

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

I just sent a client from Brazil on a 3-week trip to Indonesia. Started at KBR in Lembeh, then on to 2 Fish Bunaken, then to Tulamben, and ended up in Lembongan. She took in culture along the way and had fantastic diving and experiences at all the resorts. I would recommend this trip in a heartbeat. Indonesia is always at the top of my list for recommendations.